In Colorado, March shakes up our brains and our wardrobes. It’s the month the crocuses start popping up. Ten days ago, I spotted tiny shoots on my tea rose. On Sunday, it was 60 degrees.
Tomorrow we’re expecting two feet of snow.
You simply don’t know what’s going to happen from one day to the next. Which is pretty much how I’ve been feeling about podcasting and the media more broadly these days. Lately, random people have been asking me to a) explain why podcasting has been hit so hard in the last six months, and b) predict where it’s headed. I have a lot of thoughts (I won’t bore you) but basically my extraordinarily scientific explanation comes down to the same thing actual Coloradans told me, the transplanted New Englander, when I moved here a dozen years ago: “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.”
Sometimes you just have to hang on and get through March. Keep your parkas handy in the closet, friends. Stick it out. And don’t forget, in your gloomiest times: help each other shovel the sidewalks.
In today’s newsletter
A Try This in Your Studio from my podcast coaching house call to a former goat pen; a bit of the Sound Judgment origin story, and two exciting awards programs.
Try this in your studio
Usually, I summarize takeaways from the Sound Judgment podcast that you can act on right away. Today, my takeaway comes from a “podcast coaching house call.” *
One of architect Zeke Freeman’s projects. Not your average treehouse.
I knew this coaching call would be different. When I turned off the highway, my GPS led me to a narrow, steep road, followed by a quick succession of sharp turns. Pavement quickly succumbed to dirt roads, so steep that houses appeared to be built into the sides of hills. With just half a mile to go, I came face to face with a family of deer. I parked in the middle of the road to take photos. They patiently obliged.
My friends in Indian Hills, Colo.
I was heading to the home and studio of architect Zeke Freeman of The Root Team. Zeke will soon launch his podcast, Radical Hospitality. He’s designing it for professionals working in the “experience” hospitality business — boutique hotels and unusual vacation properties, like a tree-house condo resort on a Dominican coffee farm, one of his projects. Zeke and his family live in Indian Hills. It’s 20 minutes away from Denver, but it feels more like the tiny New Hampshire town I lived in for years, surrounded by thousands of acres of woods. Zeke and I have been working together on the premise, audience and format for Radical Hospitality. That day, we planned to make it real.
I stepped into Zeke’s new studio, built on the site of an old goat pen. He and his artist/realtor wife, Amy, chased the feistiest of their three labradoodles out of the way. Sunny and art-filled, the studio is a creative haven.
Zeke had written a show intro and was ready to tape. He cleared his throat and read his script. I turned away and closed my eyes, to listen closely. What I heard is what I hear from most newer hosts: reading. For a first time, it was fine — but distant, a generic announcement, not an invitation. He laughed when he tripped over a long sentence. He was discovering the broadcaster’s reality: In normal conversation, human beings speak in shorter sentences than those that we write. Ten words or less are your friend.
He needed to loosen up and to find a different way in for his audience. I tried two exercises with him:
1) Often, we can’t avoid reading a script. But we have to sound like we aren’t. In order to make this mirage happen, we need to practice.
Here’s an actors’ exercise: Several times a day, grab any reading material at hand. Walk around with it. Glance down at a page, skim a few sentences, then look up and speak out loud what you skimmed. Don’t peek.
At first, you might only manage a few words. As you practice, though, you’ll absorb more and more of the text before you have to read again. As you speak the text out loud without looking, you will automatically adopt a more natural cadence and tone. (Zeke did pretty well!)
2) Zeke and I then worked on creating his sound vision. (What’s a sound vision? Read “Do this and you, too, will be an overnight millionaire,” below.)
To get started, I gave him some feedback.
“Do you know the best part of what you just taped, Zeke?” I asked.
He didn’t.
“It was when you stumbled over the long sentence and started laughing. That’s when you sounded the most natural, the most human, the most likable.”
“Really?” His eyebrows shot up.
“Really.”
With that in mind, I asked, “What’s the feeling you want your listeners to have? Do you want to tell them things with the formal voice of an expert, or do you want them to feel like you’re all learning this new field together — like you’re taking them with you on a journey?”
The latter, definitely, he said.
“So throw out your script,” I suggested.
I had him talk to one ideal listener — he conjured up his business partner — and share the new show extemporaneously. Once again, I closed my eyes to listen.
All of a sudden, here was the Zeke I’d come to know! “Join me on the journey to build this boutique hotel,” he said, smiling. “It’s a journey filled with ups and downs, with the challenges of finding land, writing business plans, pitching investors, confronting the planning board, and so much more.”
He ended by saying, “It’s been a wild ride.” I felt that wild ride along with him. In fact, I wanted to take it with him.
Did he stumble over his words a bit? Sure. We all do, especially when we’re speaking without a script. In his stumbles, though, he sounded human, lively, and passionate. Willing to poke a little fun at himself. If I’d been hearing him for the first time through my earbuds, I would have liked him.
So try this in your studio. If you’re feeling or sounding stiff, throw out your script. Look away from the screen. Speak from your heart, just to get the ideas out. You can edit this material into something you read (without ‘reading’) later. Right now, you’re on the road to becoming more authentic on the mic. Even better, you’re on a path to creating your unique sound vision — the sonic brand of your show.
*Do you think I should trademark the term “Podcast coaching house call?” Hmmm.👩⚕️
Do this and you, too, will be an overnight millionaire
More than 18 months ago, I started Sound Judgment, the newsletter and podcast, because I was frustrated.
Everywhere I looked, I saw online instruction about the mechanics, marketing and monetization of podcasts. (“Just get a mic! It’ll take half an hour a week! Thousands Millions of dollars will flow your way!”)
But I saw almost nothing about the craft of audio storytelling — an absence of instruction on how to create compelling stories and conversations in the first place.
I was craving exploration of the process by which we create content that engages real humans with taste and values and wants and needs — our audiences — and prompts them to share unforgettable moments and insights with others.
Selfishly, I also wanted to learn from the on-the-ground experiences of today’s very best hosts and other audio storytellers. What are the ingredients that make them the best?
Now, after going behind the scenes on the making of many, many podcasts with guests like Anna Sale, Glynn Washington, Kelly Corrigan, Jay Baer and more, I’ve built a body of work (with more to come) on what it takes to craft excellent content.
Some of the same strategies showed up again and again. If you’re a loyal reader, you’ve seen these before:
1. Sound vision: Build a world that invites your ideal audience to enter. If you’re a writer or a public speaker, this concept absolutely applies to the page and the stage.
2. Structure: The often-missing gateway to creativity and productivity.
3. Scenes: The backbone of engagement.
4. Surprise: There's no story without it. You can identify it everywhere, if you know where to look.
5. Suspense: How to keep your audience with you, no matter the subject.
6. Specifics: Finding the right turn of phrase, fact, feeling, or image makes your work transcendent.
It helps to hear examples. On the podcast, we’ve released six bite-sized episodes, one on each of these strategies. Some of them are only five minutes long!
To make it easy, we’ve made playlists for you on Spotify and Youtube.
Or, if you want to gobble up the whole thing at once, the complete episode on all six strategies dropped yesterday morning.
I have an ask.
This miniseries is an experiment. Drop me a note and let me know what you think of these short format bonus episodes?
Togetherness makes learning more fun
A quick reminder to check out our new workshops. If you’re reading this early in the morning and want to jump in on one right away, take advantage of a last-minute chance to register for today’s storytelling workshop, Hook Your Audience and Keep Them Coming Back. Register by 11 a.m. EST today, 3/14.
Better yet, plan to take the next two workshops, an encore of Mastering the Art of the Interview (April 5) and Success in Guesting: Be a Great Guest & Get Great Guests.
In every issue, we give Sound Judgment Kudos to audio folks who are making sound judgments that improve our craft or serve others.
Don’t you want one on your desk? Apply to the 2024 IWPA awards now. Photo: Tigz Rice @tigzrice.branding
Our first SJ kudo goes to Naomi Mellor and the International Women’s Podcast Awards, now in its third year. Entries for the 2024 awards are open now through Thursday, March 28. The IWPAs are about moments of audio brilliance and the people who create them. Email info@everybody-media.com with unanswered questions.
Need a bit of help? Complimentary entry is available through the IWPA Bursary Fund, no questions asked. Fill in the short form here.
Our second SJ kudo goes to the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) 2024 Annual Writing Awards. Enter now through May 15, 2024. Founded in 1948, ASJA is the nation’s largest association of independent nonfiction writers. (Note: This competition is open to writers, not audio storytellers. I’m including it because ASJA has long supported dozens of superb journalists I know. I’m impressed with their resources and community. Also, many if not most of us write for the page, not just the ear.)
Our third SJ kudo goes to Sound Judgment reader Whitney Archibald, for responding to our reader survey. She writes, “Podcasting can be lonely. The Sound Judgment newsletter gives me support, encouragement, and a sense of community. I love the practical advice that I can start incorporating immediately.” Whitney, the mother of five, hosts How She Moms. Check it out!
Our own Sound Judgment
Podcast Allies Production Assistant Audrey Nelson has been accepted into the Vox Media Writers Workshop! This free mentorship pairs 10-15 aspiring journalists with experienced Vox Media reporters and editors for three months. Kudos, Audrey, we’re so proud of you!
My own personal Sound Judgment
Remember what I said about two feet of snow? I’m dreaming about summer — and about spending a week in the gorgeous Camden-Rockport area. I’m delighted to share that I’ll be teaching Intro to Audio Storytelling at Maine Media Workshops in early September. Details to come!
As always, it is a joy to be with you.
Elaine
P.S. I love hearing from you.
What are you working on? What challenges are you struggling with? Tell me in the comments or, if you’d rather not be public, write to me. (Click on my byline for my email.)
I write back to everyone I hear from. It can take a little while, though!
This feels like a warm hug... I envy Zeke.
This feels like a warm hug... I envy Zeke.